


Hyper Vigilance

by bleedreid



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-24
Updated: 2018-04-27
Packaged: 2019-04-27 04:26:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14417643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bleedreid/pseuds/bleedreid
Summary: Based on Criminal Minds and a short story on reddithttps://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/57vhg6/my_family_has_been_stalked_for_the_last_4_years/





	1. Chapter 1

Two months prior, Y/N was just a normal girl living out her dream as a graphic designer.

Along with the job came a sense of importance. Everything she created was seen and interpreted in various ways by a multitude of people. She never felt like she was ever truly working a day in her life because she woke up every day excited to do her job. Her life had been what some might describe as perfect, up until this point.

Now she was terrified to leave her house. Even going out to get the mail at the end of her driveway was a struggle.

Y/N felt as if she was being watched by someone, or something, every second of every day. The only people she kept in contact with anymore were her parents, her sister, and her two close friends; Emily and Spencer. They were the only ones she could trust after what had happened.

It happened two months ago on a breezy autumn night. Y/N and her family had decided to go out for dinner together at a local diner in the outskirts of town.

Her father, being the old fashioned man he was, had insisted on driving, saying it was ‘a mans’s job.’ Y/N had rolled her eyes, laughing at her father, before getting out of his gray Honda Civic. She closed the car door behind her, leaving her work bag inside, and walking with her family into the building.

The small restaurant smelled faintly of cigarette smoke and hamburger meat, something you’d expect at a diner. It was incredibly understaffed, but that didn’t seem to matter, since there were only two other customers in the entire place.

Y/N didn’t pay much attention to the other tables, even though, looking back, she should have. Her skill to be alert at all times wasn’t crafted until after the incident.

Y/N and her father ordered cheeseburgers and fries, while her mother got a salad. Her sister had already eaten, so she didn’t order a meal. She was just along for the ride.

The night started off pleasantly, stories about work and the holidays captivating Y/N’s parents. She’d been so busy lately, she hadn’t made much time to see them. They were just happy to be with her and her sister.

Midway through dinner, that’s when it happened. A young man came rushing through the entrance of the diner, out of breath.

“Whoever owns a Honda Civic, it was just broken into,” he managed to huff out as he caught his breath.

Y/N’s father rose from his seat, sprinting outside. Y/N followed alongside her mother and sister.

Sure enough, their car windshield had been smashed into.

“Son of a bitch,” Y/N’s father mumbled angrily as he looked at the damage.

Nothing seemed to be out of place from the outside, so they decided to take a closer look. Y/N opened the back doors, rifling through her stuff.

The only thing missing was a small, red notebook she kept with her work things. Sometimes when the power was out, she would take her sketching to paper instead of digital.

Y/N shrugged, unsure at the time why someone would want a cheap little notebook with some random drawings in it. She decided not to say anything; she could just buy a new one.

After the police arrived on the scene, they interviewed the man who had informed them of the break in. He told them he didn’t get a glimpse of whoever did it, he only saw a rock spiraling through the air and shattering the glass.

With no eye witnesses, the police were unable to do much. Y/N’s father was upset, but understanding. Whoever had broken into their car had gotten away with it.

The family went back inside the restaurant to finish their dinner.

They quickly forgot about the incident, even making jokes about it.

By the end of the night, the family was just glad to have spent time together, even with the unfortunate event that had unfolded.

Y/N went home that night without a worry in the world. She fell asleep without trouble, excited to wake up and go to work the next day.

In the morning, Y/N went through her usual routine to get ready. She took a shower before drying her hair and applying her makeup. She usually skipped breakfast so that she could get to work earlier.

As she was leaving her house, she noticed a small envelope on the welcome mat by her door.

She bent down, picking the paper up and turning it over in her hands. She ripped the envelope open, taking a small piece of notebook paper out.

It was an image of a woman standing in a park, looking out at a sunset.

Y/N recognized the picture immediately. It was one of the drawings from the red notebook.

She looked more carefully, noticing a slight change to her drawing. Next to the woman was a poorly drawn stick figure that had been etched in pen.

Next to the stick figure were the words “ **com play** ”, written in what looked like a child’s handwriting.

Y/N stuffed the drawing into her purse before heading out the door. As she got into her car, she looked around, trying to find whoever had slid the sketch under her door.

It was quite an odd way of returning her work to her.

As Y/N drove to work, something felt off.

There was something about that morning that was bugging her, but she couldn’t put her finger on it, until she arrived at her office.

As she turned the handle of her building’s door, she froze in place, noticing the way the bottom of the door had a rubber buffer on it to keep the cold air out. The front door to her house had the exact same thing on it, making it impossible to slide an envelope under it.

That meant that whoever sent her the drawing, had been inside her house at one point.

 


	2. Chapter 2

Two months later, and Y/N was still being haunted by random envelopes appearing at her door.

Each one contained a drawing from the red notebook, altered only by the addition of the same stick figure and a small message.

It was petrifying to think that someone was getting inside Y/N’s house without her knowing.

She had even gone to the library at one point, trying to see if she could find a book on these types of things.

Was this a prank? Some sort of initiation or ritual? Whatever it was, it was freaking her out.

One of the times she had been at the library, she had ran into a young man and young woman, who she now knew as Spencer and Emily.

The three of them had hit it off, spending countless afternoons together.

After a few weeks, Y/N decided they had earned her trust. She finally came clean, telling them the real reason she had been in the library that first day they met.

To her surprise, the two took it quite well, never doubting her or telling her she was overreacting. They promised to do everything in their power to make her feel safe, even if it meant having sleepovers at her house every night.

It was nice to have friends she could trust.

But now, two months after the initial incident, Y/N felt like she couldn’t trust anyone.

She had woken up late, the usual pep in her step gone. She was no longer excited to go to work or to spend time with people. Her usual care-free demeanor had been erased, replaced by a frightened, panicky one.

Spencer had slept over her house the previous night, keeping his promise to make her feel safe.

Emily had been busy, so it had just been the two of them.

Spencer had slept on the floor, even though Y/N secretly wished he slept in her bed. It would have made her feel safer.

Once dressed, Y/N got ready to leave for work, checking her door mat for another envelope.

Sure enough, there was one sitting there. It didn’t even phase her anymore.

Y/N opened the envelope, looking down at the picture. It was a drawing she had done of herself, but it was crossed out with a big X.

Puzzled, Y/N turned the paper over, reading the short note on the back.

It said “ **tel the agent i just want 2 b ur frend** ” in the same childlike scripture.

Y/N furrowed her brows, confused by the statement, when she heard Spencer rummaging through the kitchen.

“Another one?” He asked as he made his way over to where she was standing.

Y/N handed him the note, hoping he could make some sense of it. She watched as his eyes skimmed the words over and over again, a frown appearing on his face.

“What does it mean?” Y/N asked, looking at Spencer with hopeful eyes.

He was the smartest man she had ever met, surely he would see something that she couldn’t.

“Uh… I think this one’s directed at me,” Spencer mumbled, turning the picture over in his hands.

Y/N looked at him with confusion.

“But you’re not an- ohh…” Y/N trailed off as she realized what she was saying.

She may not be as smart at Spencer, but she wasn’t stupid. Even though she sure felt like it now.

“You’re an agent? Like, FBI?” She asked, taking a step away from him.

“Y/N, I didn’t want you to find out this way,” Spencer spoke, worried he just lost her trust.

He had taken an oath to protect her, along with Emily.

Under that oath, they had been strictly told not to tell Y/N of their true identity, as not to scare her. If the unsub, the man who was harassing Y/N, knew they were onto him, he might make a bold move, endangering her life.

It was too late now, though.

“Get out,” Y/N ordered, pointing towards the door.

“But.. it’s not safe for you to be alone,” Spencer pleaded, not wanting to leave her by herself.

Not only was it in his job description, but he had also grown to care deeply for the girl. If something were to happen to her, he wouldn’t be able to live with himself.

“I thought I could trust you,” Y/N said, embarrassment and hurt coursing through her body.

Spencer’s heart broke at her words.

She could trust him.

“Out,” she repeated when Spencer hadn’t moved.

He sighed, turning on his feet to leave. This was not how this was suppose to go.

 

 

 

Spencer’s phone must have been broken, because there was no way Y/N would ignore his 70 messages.

Or would she? Was she really that mad at him?

He hadn’t necessarily lied to her, just bent the truth.

He had told her he was a doctor, which was true.

It wasn’t his fault that she never asked what type.

Spencer got into a black SUV, tapping his fingers on the wheel as he waited for Emily. Once she got in the passenger seat, he put the car in drive and sped off in the direction of Y/N’s house.

Even though she didn’t want them there, they were still instructed to check up on her. Their plan was to drive by and make sure she was safe.

“Slow down Reid,” Emily commanded as the tires made a loud screech against the road.

Spencer was driving way too fast, but he couldn’t help it. He just wanted to make sure Y/N was okay.

Spencer slowed down, still going way above the speed limit. They finally arrived at Y/N’s house, slowing the car to a crawl.

Spencer’s eyes wandered to a flap on the side of the front door, billowing in the wind.

Had that always been there?

He was going to find out.

Spencer took a sharp turn, pulling into the drive way. Emily didn’t question it, as she also noticed the flap on the door frame.

They got out of the car, taking their guns out of their holsters.

Emily lead the way, walking up the front steps.

As they got closer, they noticed the flap was siding from the house that must have been knocked loose.

False Alarm.

Emily looked in the windows, trying to spot Y/N.

At this time in the afternoon, she was usually in the living room watching cooking shows.

But she wasn’t there.

In fact, all the lights were off, which was unusual for Y/N. She liked to leave all the lights on because the darkness scared her, something Spencer could relate to.

Emily put her hand on the door knob and twisted it gently.

It was unlocked, another thing that was unusual for Y/N.

For the past two months, she had never left her door unlocked.

Ever.

Spencer decided to take the lead, pushing the door fully opened. With his gun at the ready, he tiptoed into the house, shining his flashlight into every corner of the room.

When the coast seemed clear, he lowered his weapon and called out for Y/N.

No answer.

“You’re gonna wanna see this,” Emily’s voice shook slightly as she picked up a piece of paper off the counter.

Spencer practically leapt over to her, looking over her shoulder.

She was holding a drawing of Y/N, that must have been from the red notebook. Next to Y/N was the same stick figure, holding what seemed to be a machete or something.

Emily flipped the sketch over, her voice hitching in her throat as she saw the words in front of them.

“ **NOW U MADE ME MAD**.”


	3. Chapter 3

“Fuck,” Spencer pounded his fist into the counter, causing Emily to jump back.

If he had only been there, this wouldn’t have happened.

Now, not only did the unsub have Y/N, but they had also pissed him off. There was no telling what this man was capable of.

The two of them brought the note back to the local police station, rushing it to be scanned for finger prints, though they already knew how it was going to come back.

Every piece of evidence they had collected so far had been completely clean, no fingerprints or DNA left behind. They were working against someone far more intelligent than they had initially expected.

Y/N’s parents arrived at the station after being called in.

Spencer and Emily had to sit them down and explain the situation at hand. Y/N hadn’t told them about the stalker, because she didn’t want to worry them.

As they were going through the different events that had unfolded in the past two months, an envelope was delivered to the front desk of the police department with no return address on it.

It was labeled “ **the agents** ”.

Emily and Spencer left Y/N’s parents with Rossi in order to take in all the information they were just given. They were pretty shook up by it all.

The receptionist gave Spencer and Emily the envelope, which they quickly opened.

Inside was another drawing, but it was on a different type of paper than the others.

The picture was beautifully illustrated in a specific style that they immediately recognized as Y/N’s.

She had drawn herself and a man, sitting on a wooden bench. Behind them was a large, yellow barn with a giant X drawn through it.

The X was drawn in black pen, so roughly that the paper had almost ripped.

On the back was a small message: “ **we r having so much fun** ” in the same distinct scripture as before.

Spencer examined the drawing once more before bringing it into the room where they had left Y/N’s parents.

He slid the image across the table to them.

“Do you know this man?” Spencer asked the two parents as they looked down at the picture.

It wasn’t the most detailed drawing, but it was the best they had.

“I-I’m not sure,” Y/N’s mother replied shakily, mascara-infused tears coating her cheeks.

“Do you think he made her draw this?” Y/N’s father asked, his face contorting with horror.

“I hope,” Spencer answered bluntly.

“Why would you hope that?” Her father asked harshly.

“Because it means she’s still alive.”

 

 

 

Hotch, JJ, Rossi, and Morgan accompanied Spencer and Emily as they made their way to the diner where it had all started.

They were at a dead end, with little to no information needed to come up with a profile. They needed to retrace their steps.

Or, in this case, Y/N’s steps.

Spencer and Hotch went inside the diner, immediately showing their badges to the owner.

The others stayed outside, asking pedestrians walking by if they had ever seen the man in the sketch.

There was no time for fooling around.

Y/N’s life was at risk.

Spencer walked up to the counter, taking a seat on one of the stools.

The leather fabric of the seat had small burn holes in it, probably from cigarettes. A waitress came up in front of him, flipping her notepad to a new page to take his order.

Spencer recognized her as the waitress Y/N had described from the night when her father's car was broken into.

She was older, probably fifty, and out of shape. Her teeth were stained and her hair was brittle.

It was evident that this was the best job she could hold down.

She also seemed to be the only waitress they had.

“I’m with the FBI, do you mind if I ask you a few questions?” Spencer asked, digging through his coat for the picture of the unsub.

The waitress nodded hesitantly, putting her pen and notepad into the front pocket of her apron.

Spencer placed the sketch on the counter so that it faced her.

“The man in this image, have you seen him before?” Spencer asked, pointing to the man beside Y/N on the bench.

The waitress closed her eyes tightly, shaking her head.

“You’re sure?” Spencer asked again, noticing the way her eyes reopened and immediately focused on the barn in the background of the picture.

Her breathing was faster than before.

“You’re well aware of the consequences of lying to a federal agent, yes?” Hotch asked from behind Spencer’s shoulder.

The waitress stared up at him, intimidation masking over her face.

She nodded again, unconvincingly.

“Ok, well, thank you,” Spencer said before getting up from the stool and walking back out of the diner.

Hotch followed, dialing Penelope’s number into his phone as they walked. Once she picked up, he instructed her to have surveillance on the diner at all times.

Something was off about the woman they had interviewed.

Morgan, JJ, Emily, and Rossi had no luck as well. Nobody seemed to recognize the man in the picture.

The team decided to go back to headquarters and map out a new plan. It felt like they were going in circles with this case.

After arriving back at the local police station, Hotch had Y/N’s parents brought in once again.

Her mother was still in hysterics, but her father seemed to have a level head.

“Why was the sketch of the man taken down?” Y/N’s father asked as he sat down next to his wife across from the team.

“Becau- wait what?” Morgan walked over to the the bulletin board that contained all of the current cases in the area.

The picture of the unsub that had been hung up was no longer there.

“Morgan, have another one put up immediately,” Hotch instructed as everyone sat in confusion.

Morgan trudged out of the room in order to get a new sketch.

The team had all of the notes Y/N had received in the past two months put into a timeline. Nothing about the linguistics of the messages showed any type of underlying code.

Spencer looked at the latest note, still studying the barn in the background. The X on it had clearly been drawn by the unsub, not Y/N.

The darkness of the ink showed that he held his pen abnormally, using too much pressure when holding it.

That, along with his poor spelling, made it seem almost as if he had never been taught how to write properly.

“Does this barn look familiar?” Spencer turned to Y/N’s parents, making sure to be cautious in his word choice.

They were already scared out of their minds.

“No,” Y/N’s mom replied, looking down at the image again.

“The waitress at the diner seemed fixated on it for some reason,” Hotch spoke up, moving closer to Spencer.

He took out his phone, calling Penelope again.

“Hello my puff pastry profilers, what can I do for you?” Penelope’s voice rang through the room once she was put on speaker.

Y/N’s parents looked up at Hotch, clearly caught off guard by her bubbly tone. It was nice to have someone with an uplifting attitude when surrounded by such serious people.

“Can you look for any farms in the area? Specifically with a yellow barn,” Hotch asked into the phone.

The team sat back as they listened to Penelope’s long finger nails typing against her keyboard. Within seconds, there was a click and a squeal from the tech analyst.

“I have two addresses, sending them to your phones now,” Penelope said before hanging up.

Spencer and Emily shot a hopeful look at each other before getting up from their seats, ready to catch the man who had taken Y/N.


	4. Chapter 4

Hotch, Emily, and Spencer wasted no time getting into a black SVU and turning the sirens on, Rossi and JJ trailing behind in a second car. Each SVU took one of the two addresses and began speeding into the direction of their respective destination. 

Emily sat in the passenger seat while Hotch took the wheel. Soon after they departed from the station, her phone began ringing. 

From the back seat, Spencer peeked over her shoulder to see Morgan’s name on the caller I.D.

“You’re on speaker,” Emily answered, pressing the button so Morgan’s voice could be heard by all.

“You’re not gonna believe this,” Morgan said.

“Try me,” Emily responded.

There was nothing Y/N’s stalker could do at this point that would surprise them. He was in a league of his own.

“Our unsub was here. As in, at the station,” Morgan paused.

“What? How?” Spencer chimed in from the back.

“Remember how Y/N’s dad noticed the sketch had been taken down off the bulletin board? Well, I searched the station and found it. It was torn up and thrown away in the woman’s bathroom. And get this, he left fingerprints,” Morgan said through the phone.

“That doesn’t make sense, he’s been so careful leading up to this as to not leave any evidence,” Hotch said from the drivers seat.

“Maybe he’s unraveling now that he has Y/N?” Emily suggested. 

“Maybe. I rushed the prints to the medical examiner and told her how urgent it is. I’ll call you back as soon as I know anything,” Morgan said before hanging up.

Spencer leaned back in his seat, rubbing his temples with the inside of his thumbs. Something wasn’t right, but he couldn’t figure it out.

The constant sound of the police sirens diminished any awkward silence in the interior of the car. Each agent was in their own world, going over every single detail of the case in their head. 

The ride to the address the three of them were assigned was long. Once Hotch pulled off of the initial main highway, everything turned into back roads and dirt paths. The SVU could only go so fast over the gravel and mud, extending their estimated time of arrival even more.

Spencer’s foot hadn’t stop tapping the entire ride. He was so impatient it was making him sick. 

If something were to happen to Y/N, it would be his fault. He knew what the assignment was and how him and Emily weren’t suppose to reveal their true identity, but, he could have bent the rules just this once. 

Y/N’s reaction to finding out they were actually federal agents is what caused her to be vulnerable. If only she had found out in a different way or setting, Spencer would have been able to explain. 

Then, maybe she wouldn’t have kicked him out. He would have been able to continue to protect her.

Spencer shook his head, trying to relieve his mind of the guilty thoughts. 

It was too late now. Y/N had already been taken and instead of fretting over what had happened, Spencer had to focus on the present. He needed to figure out what the team had missed and solve the case.

Hotch abruptly turning the the SVU onto a patch of dead grass broke Spencer from his thoughts. 

Emily and Spencer looked out the window and saw why they had stopped. There was a large rundown farm in front of them, adorned with a yellow barn off to the left.

This was the place. It had to be.

Hotch, Emily, and Spencer all got out of the car, walking around to the front to meet up. They spoke in hushed tones as to not alert anyone of their presence.

Hotch gave instructions on where to begin their raid. They didn’t have a search warrant, but they didn’t care. The farm looked abandoned so they could use that as an excuse if they got into legal trouble later down the road.

Emily’s phone began ringing again. She answered it quickly so the ringing would stop and they could continue to keep a low profile.

“Got something?” Emily answered, putting the phone on speaker and holding it out in front of her.

Spencer looked down at the called I.D. and saw that it was Morgan again. Good, maybe him and Garcia had cracked the case back at the station.

“It’s a woman,” Morgan said through the phone.

“Elaborate,” Hotch ordered.

“The fingerprints came back and they belong to a Shirley Johnson. And get this, Shirley Johnson is the same woman who worked at the diner where this all started,” Morgan replied.

“That doesn’t make sense,” Spencer said, trying to use his eidetic memory to remember the details of the drawings Y/N had been sent.

Each time her stalker had sent Y/N one of her own pictures from the little red book, he had added a stick figure. The team had collectively decided that those stick figures were suppose to be a self portrait. The figures were poorly drawn, but they were always definitely male figures.

“Are we looking at an accomplice?” Emily asked.

“You may be onto something, my raven haired princess,” Garcia chimed in from the background. 

Morgan moved closer to Garcia so she could be heard through the phone. Her nails typed rapidly against her keyboard before she continued. 

“I did some research on our friend Shirley Johnson and I was not let down. Shirley’s had a rough life, not that that’s an excuse for any of this, but still. When she was three, she witnessed her own sister drown in a lake during vacation with her family. At the age of twelve, she was an alcoholic. I know this because she was in and out of programs for alcoholic youths. Let’s just say the programs didn’t work for her. At 14, she became pregnant. There’s a lot of speculation here about who the father was but apparently on her mother’s death bed, she admitted to failing Shirley as a mother because she allowed her to be raped by her father. So this baby never had a chance. He most likely the product of incest and had a mother who drank during her pregnancy,” Garcia said through the phone.

“That’s sad but what does it have to do with the case?” Emily asked.

“I was getting to that. So Shirley wasn’t the ideal mother. She was absent for a lot of her son's life and never enrolled him in public school. As in, he never learned how to read or write,” Garcia continued.

“Just like our unsub,” Spencer said, thinking back to the chicken scratch and horrible grammar written on each of the notes Y/N’s stalker had sent her. 

“Bingo. His name is Kale, like the vegetable. His last known address was the farm that you guys are at. I already contacted Rossi and JJ and they’re on their way to your location,” Garcia informed them.

“Alright, thanks guys,” Hotch said to Morgan and Garcia before Emily hung up the phone.

"So the son is Y/N's stalker and Shirley is trying to cover for him?" Spencer thought out loud.

"That's what I was thinking," Emily agreed.

"His past combined with his genetic makeup worries me. There's no telling what he might do," Spencer said, hoping they weren't already too late.

"Let's go," Hotch ordered.


	5. Chapter 5

Emily made the first move, taking her gun from its holster and making her way onto the farm. She was assigned to raid the farmhouse while Spencer was to raid the yellow barn. Hotch would stay outside and wait for backup. 

Spencer thought about Y/N’s picture. Given that she drew the barn behind her and the unsub, chances were she was being held in that structure, so Spencer resolved to check it first.

Spencer flipped off his gun’s safety, and ventured inward onto the farm.  He made sure to be as quiet as possible as he travelled through the next to impossible to go through off the path cornfield. 

What should’ve been a few minutes walk took about twenty before he came to the clearing.Spencer was about fifteen feet from the backdoor to the barn, which was wide open. He sat there for a few minutes, trying to get some idea of where somebody was. 

Luckily he paused for a moment to get his emotions in check because just then, he saw the man that had kidnapped Y/N.

The man walked out the back door of the house and over to the barn. Spencer sighed in relief. At least that meant he wasn’t hiding in the house Emily was currently inside. 

When the man entered the barn, Spencer made a break for it.

He sprinted across the backyard and leapt up the two stairs directly into the barn. He still had no idea if anyone else besides Kale was there, but he didn’t care. 

Spencer was blind with determination. 

Thinking quickly, he ran to a door that he hoped would lead to a basement. He made it to the basement floor and used his flashlight as guidance. There were dead animals lined up on the ground in some sort of pattern Spencer didn’t care to figure out. 

Then, he shined the light on the walls. Every foot or so, save for a few empty spots, were pictures Y/N had drawn hanging on the walls. 

It made Spencer sick, but if there was any doubt he was in the right place before, there definitely wasn’t now.

Spencer stepped his way around the dead rabbits, cats, dogs, and small animals like gerbils and hamsters (there must have been 100 dead animals down there, it smelled like absolute death), and into another area.

Sure enough, it was where Y/N was being held. There was a chair in the center with handcuffs attached, blood stains still spattered over the bottom of them. 

Now that Spencer knew he was in the right place, he decided to stop sightseeing and just scour every inch of this hellhole until he found Y/N.

That’s when Spencer heard the screen door open upstairs.

Spencer stood in silence as he heard the floor creak above him, doing his best not to gag on the putrid smell that engulfed him. 

The walking upstairs stopped for a moment, then picked back up as whoever was up there walked back to the back door and exited the house once again. 

Spencer checked the rest of the basement, but Y/N obviously wasn’t there. 

He quickly made his way back upstairs and back into the main barn which was nothing short of being a product of hoarding. There was garbage covering the entire floor. What could once be used as a couch was now a home to maggot-filled takeout containers and empty soda and beer cans. To Spencer’s left was a stairway leading to a second floor on the barn, where he saw something highly disturbing.

There were pictures lining the stairwell, and in these pictures were a familiar bunch. 

The waitress at the diner, holding hands with the man who had first informed Y/N’s family that their car had been broken into. Spencer’s mouth almost dropped open as he put it together. She was holding hands with her son. Her son… was Y/N’s stalker. The man who told them about the robbery was the man who did all of this. He was one of the only people the BAU hadn’t considered as a suspect.

Spencer continued inspecting the second floor of the barn. 

The way it was laid out made it seem as thoughit had been inhabited by more than farm animals. 

Maybe Shirley forced Kale to live in the barn? 

Spencer didn’t know. 

What he did know was that he had to find Y/N. 

And fast.

There were two rooms on the left side, and one on the right at the end of the hall. At the top of the stairs was a bathroom, which rivaled the deepest depths of a sewer. Shit and piss covered the floor around the toilet, wet towels and clothing covered the rest. 

Spencer walked down the hall and peeked into the first room on the left, it was literally nothing but garbage. 

The second room contained a solitary mattress. It was old, soiled and stained with only God knows what. 

The room on the right held nothing of any importance either, except that when Spencer looked in it, he heard the door close once again. 

Spencer stepped into the room and hid behind the door. He heard footsteps coming up the steps towards him. 

Spencer’s first reaction was to go out the window, so he did. As quickly as he could, Spencer got outside and shut the window behind him. 

He stayed up there for a few minutes, and then saw the man go back into the house where Emily was. 

Spencer had a feeling that that’s where Y/N was. He crawled around the roof and climbed down some lattice to the ground. He sprinted over to the house and took a peek inside a back window.

It was set up like an art studio.  The man was sitting at a desk, drawing.


	6. Chapter 6

As Spencer watched him, the man stopped. 

Without breaking his gaze that he had on the paper on the table beneath him, he reached down to his left, and pulled up a mask, placing it over his head. It was a plastic mask that had hand drawn designs all over it. 

Suddenly, he turned his head and looked directly at Spencer. 

All he heard then was a loud, shrill, child-like voice saying ” **AGENT!** ” and the man stood up and sprinted out the front door of the garage. 

Spencer ran around and found him running back to the barn. Spencer ran as fast as he could after him, and fired two rounds, missing both.

Kale ran into the barn and Spencer quickly followed. 

The only light in the barn was from the sunlight coming in through holes in the ceiling. It was a generally wide open area, with one small vestibule in the far corner, and a stairway that led to a railing-less loft area that had plywood boards sticking up in random places. The floor was covered in a thin layer of hay and oil spots. Towards the back were some hay bales.

The man’s immature voice filled the open air of the barn. 

” **You see that, Y/N ! He’s finally come and visited us. I bet he wants to see your new pictures that you drawn here!** ”

”Where is she?!” Spencer screamed.

”She’s close!” The man said before giggling uncontrollably.

Spencer expected the man to be up in the rafters, so he sprinted across the open floor of the barn towards the blocked off area in the far corner. 

At the last possible moment, in Spencer’s peripheral vision, he saw him. 

The man tackled Spencer from the left side. He must have been hiding behind one of the hay bales. 

The man held his fist back, ready to punch Spencer in the face. Right before he made contact, another person grabbed him from behind.

Emily tackled the man to the ground. 

She wrestled with him for about a second and a half, then, when he got on top of her, she pressed the barrel of her gun onto his throat and pulled the trigger, blowing a hole out the back of his neck. 

This sent blood flying into the air and raining down on Emily and Spencer.

The man struggled to breath for a few moments before falling lifelessly on top of her.  Spencer pushed him off of Emily. 

She nodded that she was okay so Spencer ran to the vestibule in the corner.  It was locked by a large masterlock. 

A bullet took it right off. 

Spencer ripped the door open and found it empty. 

His heart once again sank. 

Spencer stepped inside, frustrated, but instantly felt a hollow floor. He kicked the hay out of the way and saw a trap door. 

Spencer opened it to find Y/N unconscious inside, bound at the hands and feet, with a sock in her mouth with tape wrapped around her head.

In tears, Spencer picked her up and freed her from her restraints. He brought her outside and began to call for help. 

Soon Hotch, JJ, and Rossi were by his side. 

“Emily’s in the barn. She’s okay, just bruised up,” Spencer said as JJ ran into the barn to get Emily.

Not long after, firetrucks, police cruisers, and ambulances were surrounding the property. 

Soon the farm was swarming with law enforcement. People were inspecting the blood splatter while others were taping the crime scene.

Spencer carried Y/N to one of the ambulances on site.  She had regained consciousness slightly. 

Y/N sobbed uncontrollably as Spencer held her in his arms. She thanked him wordlessly, happy to be safe with her friends once again.

 

 

In what the team thought was the end, they arrested Shirley at the diner. Apparently, this was the first time anything of this magnitude had been done by the family, but they were suspected for numerous robberies and attacks at the diner that the local police looked the other way on, bungling the investigations intentionally.  The only thing that wasn’t found at the scene of the crime was Y/N’s red notebook.

The only information Y/N could give about her captor was that he always wore different masks. When asked if there were multiple captors, she said she only saw one. He apparently forced her to sit in the barn, which he had fashioned as an art studio, and make pictures for him all day long, day in, day out. Nothing else. Thankfully, there was no evidence of sexual assault or physical abuse.

The BAU returned Y/N home to an ecstatic mother and father. Their family was finally back together, and the people that did this were either dead or in prison indefinitely. Everything was good, quiet, and uneventful for over a year. Y/N’s life got back on track. Spencer and Emily helped her get acclimated to normal life again and got her the professional help needed to get through her trauma, which was going quite well until last week, when an unmarked envelope showed up on her kitchen table when Y/N, Spencer, and Emily got home from a relaxing day at the beach.

Inside was a picture Y/N had clearly drawn. This one was of a man in a mask with all kinds of designs on it. Spencer could tell the addition made to this one was a knife in the hand of the man, crudely drawn with a charcoal pencil. Above the picture, in scratchy writing were the words:

” **NOW YOUVE MADE ME RILLY MAD** ”.


End file.
